Inferno Part 3

~116~ Physically Painful

Ellie's POV

"Justin?"

He gives me a small smile.

"What're you doing here?"

"Freezing my ass off."

"Come in," I say as I push Nolan gently to get him to move.

He walks in and looks around, seeing the crazy going on.

"Woah, Jake's smashed."

"Not just Jake," I say as I look at Luke, trying to arm wrestle Wes and losing.

"One day my old man strength will come in," he pouts as Wes smashes his arm down on the coffee table.

Wes laughs and takes another sip of beer. "Sorry, Lukie Boy. I'm tough."

Trace smirks and squeezes Luke's shoulders. "Don't worry, Luke. Our old man strength will come in at the same time."

Taylor laughs and rolls his eyes, and then glances up. He's sees my face, and then sees Justin standing next to me.

I see him curse under his breath as he stands up and walks over.

"What's up, Justin?"

He shakes his head. "I had some time in between jobs. I thought I'd visit for a week if that's ok."

I see Nolan's face flash, and he quickly masks it.

We will NOT go back to this kid masking his emotions. It ain't happening.

Taylor nods, and I can see him thinking hard. "Um... ok. You know what's going on with Shay?"

"Ellie told me"

Taylor nods. "Ok. The guest room is yours."

Nolan's face flashes horror again, and I see him take a deep breath, and then mask it again.

"Can I go over to Ethan's tonight?" He asks me quietly.

I look at him, and shake my head. "You can go over now, but you need to be back by 10. It's Sunday, and you have school tomorrow."

"Please?"

"Jake is too drunk to enforce a bedtime. No, Nolan. Be back by 10."

Nolan only nods as he and Ethan leave quickly, completely avoiding Justin's stare.

Once they leave, Jake hears the door, and does a double take.

"Woah!!!! How drunk am I?" He asks, leaning on Alex for support.

Alex shakes his head. "I must be as drunk as you."

Jake stumbles over to us and looks at me. "Ellie, how drunk am I?"

"Drunk"

"Is our dipshit brother here, or am I having a hallucination from hell?"

"I'm here," Justin says quietly.

"Damn you sure know how to kill a buzz," he says as he wobbles so much, he puts his arm around Taylor's shoulder for support.

"Taylor, are you drunk?" Jake asks, blinking several times.

"No"

"So you see Justin?"

"Yeah"

Jake literally stomps his foot.

"Daaaaammmmnnnn iiiitttttt," he drawls out as he puts his head on Taylor's shoulder.

"Go get coffee, Jake. You're gonna be hurting tomorrow if you don't," Taylor says softly.